Page 22 of Getting Off

But being called pretty?Shedidlike that.

Lucas was smiling at her too, his dark eyes warm.“Dylan’s fixing Bubba.We should be on our way to coffee in no time.”

A man after her own heart.She watched as Dylan swaggered over to the driver’s door and leaned inside.He fiddled with something, and suddenly the engine roared to life.

She did a spontaneous dance of triumph.They weren’t going to die alone in the desert, eaten by vultures.Not that she’d believed they would.Or maybe her logical brain hadn’t believed it, but she’d still been alittleworried…

“So what was wrong?”she asked.

“Nothing but basic chemistry.”Dylan left the engine idling and came over to Brooklyn.He slipped an arm around her waist.It felt so natural and friendly that she didn’t feel even a tiny bit uncomfortable.In fact, she liked it when he touched her.“Vapor lock’s when the vehicle gets so hot that the gasoline boils in the lines before it gets to the carburetor.Once everything cools down, the engine will usually start right up.In this case, I didn’t even have to put any fuel in the carburetor to get the process rolling.Bubba just started right up like a beast.”He smiled down at her and had the audacity to tap her nose.“And to answer that question you’renotasking, yes.We probably could’ve been out of here a few hours ago.But I was sleeping and so were you.”

Brooklyn opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out.His green eyes were mesmerizing.He looked so puckish.Good God, that was a word she could safely say about him and one she’d never considered using in casual conversation.Yet, it totally applied.The guy was incorrigible, and she loved it.He was also fun.

She desperately needed fun in her life.

“Shall we head back?”Lucas prompted from her other side.

“Yeah,” she said, grinning at them, “butI’mdriving.”

She didn’t pause long enough to give herself time to rethink how wise this was.She felt as if her fourteen-year-old self had suddenly taken over.The girl who used to ride fast and hard, loving the speed and the wind in her hair.

Both men looked stunned.

“Are you okay with a clutch?”Dylan asked.

Brooklyn didn’t bother to answer.She used the step to climb into the driver’s seat and turned around to grab her helmet.“You’d better get the back closed, or I’m going to scatter your makeshift tent all over this desert!”

Now they were grinning, but they did as she ordered.Good.

Brooklyn felt like a million bucks as the engine rumbled away.No.She feltalive.That’s what this was.Reckless, maybe.Excited, definitely.She didn’t care.For the first time in so long, she felt alive, and she loved every second of it.

The men piled into Bubba.Brooklyn felt for the clutch and put the truck in gear.Thank God her legs were long.She needed every inch of them to shove that clutch to the floor with her boot.But once the truck was in gear, she was good to go.It was like riding a bike.And she was so ready to enjoy every second of this.

“Well now,” Lucas said from the passenger seat.Dylan was in the middle, pressed up against her side.“I’m excited to see what kind of skills Dr.Brooklyn really has.”

“Better hold on tight, boys,” Brooklyn urged as she headed straight for the spot where the trail plunged over the other side of the plateau before heading down to the flats below.“It’s going to be a rough ride!”

CHAPTER NINE

Bubba the Bronco went roaring down the homestretch between the flats and the club yards trailing a plume of dust at least a hundred yards long.A dune buggy and a side by side raced with them, nipping at their heels.

Lucas gripped the “oh shit” handle anchored to the dashboard and tried to decide why he couldn’t stop grinning.Not that Dylan was much better off.He’d been letting out huge whoops of excitement for the last two hundred yards or so that only seemed to egg their driver on.A driver who had left any semblance of the reserved neurologist behind on top of that desert plateau.

The main club buildings were in sight.Brooklyn finally slowed to the fifteen miles per hour demanded by the parking yard signs.A couple of the other racers were standing around filming them on their phone cameras, and others were cheering her on.

She skillfully maneuvered the dust-covered Bubba back into his parking spot in reverse.Then she pulled off her helmet and sat there behind the wheel with a serene expression on her face.Her hair was tousled, her cheeks were pink, and those blue eyes were no longer the least bit icy.

“Damn, woman!”Dylan said.“That kicked ass.I should be asking you to join my off-road racing team.You can borrow Bubba anytime you want.He definitely likes you.”

Brooklyn grinned at him.“Maybe I’ll just buy my own off-road machine and kick your ass.”

“Doc, you can kick my ass whenever you want.”

She laughed and shook her head.“You’re something else.You know that?”

“Guess I’ve suspected that for a long time,” Dylan said, his face turning solemn.“It’s good other people are finally starting to figure out how amazing it is to be me.”

Lucas left them to their banter and hopped out of the truck.He pulled off his helmet and ran a hand through his sweaty hair.He hadn’t felt this dirty in years.The thought of a hot shower seemed like pure heaven right now.

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